Former vice chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Marri Shashidhar Reddy has condemned the BJP leadership’s attack on AICC president Sonia Gandhi for her suggestions to the Central government on lockdown and said the country was witnessing the apprehensions expressed by her with millions of people stuck on the roads.
In a statement here, Mr. Reddy said Ms. Gandhi’s comments at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting: “the 21-day nation-wide lockdown may have been necessary but the unplanned manner in which it has been implemented has caused chaos and pain in the lives of millions of migrant workers all over India” had conveyed the feelings of millions of people across the country. The BJP trying to divert attention from the core issue was now attacking her.
He said government failed to learn from the experience of the lockdown in Wuhan. The purpose of the lockdown was defeated when lakhs of migrant workers and their families gathered in huge numbers throwing social distancing to winds.
The possibility of the migrant workers, acting as carriers, when they return to their homes to join the elder members of their families was not factored in as well. There was no advance preparation for facilitating their movement, isolation and quarantine, forcing the States to rush through things, stretching the demand on the already overburdened health workers, police and civil administration,” he said.
Welcoming the Prime Minister Modi’s virtual interaction with chief ministers on Thursday and seeking their suggestions for common exit strategies, he said it was a welcome move after failing to take them into confidence before the lockdown was imposed.
